Analysis of the Economy and Emissions of Blast Furnace Operation with Top Gas Recycling

摘要

Steelmaking contributes significantly to the global CO_2 emissions due to the high requirements of energy and reductants for converting iron oxides in ores through hot metal to solid steel. In primary steelmaking, most of the unit processes, including the blast furnace (BF), are well established and have already been optimized to a mature state, so it is difficult to substantially reduce the energy demand and the emissions. Still, a potential way to progress is by introducing new innovative processes or sources of energy, or fundamentally new ways of operating existing unit processes. BF top gas recycling has been proposed as one such possible remedy, in particular combined with CO_2 capture and storage. Top gas recycling was practiced already in the 1980's in several campaigns at Toulachermet in Russia, but the recent interest in the technique is due to the potential of suppressing the emissions of steelmaking.